In Kirby Air Riders, expression is more fun than racing

Listen to me: Kirby Air Riders It is not a racing game, it is an art tool with a racing game.

The game, available now for the Nintendo Switch 2, is a follow-up to the bizarre Kirby-flavored kart racing game released in 2003 on the GameCube. And it is distinguished Smash Bros. Creator Masahiro Sakurai’s round, pink and utterly charming child takes part in short races where the main advantage is not so much how fast you go, but how well you can manage winding courses while fighting the best polygon-bound opponents ever.

Unlike other kart racers, Air riders It does not have an accelerator button. Instead, you’re automatically propelled forward, requiring you to manipulate the track with a brake button that you can use to drift around turns. You can also use the brakes to charge your kart (known as a “machine”) to get an extra boost of speed at the expense of stopping all forward momentum while charging.

To add another interesting wrinkle, Air riders Stuffed with different types of machines with different characteristics. These characteristics are not the kind of acceleration, braking and handling statistics common in, for example, Mario Kartbut a radical change in how the machine handles. For example, the Swerve Star has super speed but can only change direction while charging. As a result, it cannot glide gently along curves and turns, but instead bounces across the track like a pinball. Meanwhile, the Bulk Star will not accelerate if not charged, but it compensates for the constant starting and stopping by being extremely fast and super tanky. in Air ridersthe machines have just as much personality as the racers, which brings me to my weird little ad.

I haven’t done a lot of racing Kirby Air Riders Because I don’t want to leave the damned car customization screen. I wasn’t expecting this cute little mix from Sakurai’s pet projects – Smash Bros. and Kirby – to have such powerful customization options, and I completely dominated my time with it. More than just changing the device’s colors and adding the odd sticker, you can add different patterns and textures to your device, both on the body and the boosters. There are different visual effects you can add to the trail your device leaves in its wake. You can customize your rider cards that you display while racing online with titles, backgrounds, images, borders, and more. Even the process of applying cosmetics has an unexpected level of detail, allowing you to rotate, turn and flip patterns and decals with pinpoint precision to get whatever you want in the right place.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also an online store where players can upload their own creations that other players can purchase. Better yet, it’s all done using earned in-game currency, which is refreshing when this kind of cosmetic expression is usually trapped behind gacha-like microtransactions and chance. Naturally, there were issues, but the level of creativity on display there shows how great these customization features are.

After a few introductory races, I blew through my entire coin collection to buy things just to play with the customization tools. In fact, the only reason I race at all is to earn enough currency to come back, buy more stuff, and play with them more. I know I’m playing Kirby Air Riders Incorrectly – but I very much enjoy the care.